In a mixing glass, combine tequila and cherry liqueur. Fill with ice and stir, with a bar spoon, until the spirits are well chilled. Strain into a martini glass.
In a cocktail shaker, combine the egg white, lemon juice and vanilla simple syrup. Give a dry shake (sans ice) to break up the egg. Stop, add ice, then shake again. Layer atop the chilled tequila and cherry liqueur.
Top with two dashes of plum bitters, then garnish with maraschino cherries and candied ginger, if desired.
*For the vanilla simple syrup: In a saucepan, bring 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water to a boil, and stir until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and stir in 1 tsp. vanilla extract, or more, depending on taste. If using vanilla bean in place of extract, split the bean lengthwise, place into a heat-proof jar and fill with hot sugar syrup. Allow to steep. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Flipping through a classic-cocktail book can be an adventure into a world of unrecognizable ingredients and strange measurements. One such perusal led me to a liquor store and a bottle of ruby-colored Heering: The Original Cherry Liqueur. Rye, lemon, cherry Heering, ice, shake, glass and a sip later (an imprecise High Hat recipe), I realized that I was about 200 years late to a really awesome party I hadn’t even known was happening.

First produced in 1818 by Peter Heering, cherry Heering is a Danish liqueur, made by soaking slightly crushed Danish cherries in neutral grain spirits with herbs and spices. This natural mixture is aged for at least three years, while sugar, the only additive, is gradually introduced. The result is pure, slightly sweet cherry, as though you left some out in the sun and are eating them warm. It’s perfect for adding depth and a bit of temper to a stiff cocktail, without the syrupy mouthfeel of other cherry liqueurs.

A robust and versatile ingredient should be tested. So with the help of Tender Bar, in Lawrenceville, I set out to drink two radically different cherry Heering-imbued cocktails.

The bartenders opened with a Blood and Sand, a classic that inspires polarizing feelings among drinkers. Scotch, cherry Heering, vermouth and orange juice, while sounding like a clash in flavors, actually make for a balanced, clean-feeling drink, perfect for sipping before dinner. The bite of the scotch was tamed by the fruit but not extinguished, leaving a little woodiness behind.

After conferring secretly about a good foil, Craig Mrusek offered up his Reef Dweller, a tiki cocktail with spiced rum, passion fruit, lime, Campari and, of course, cherry Heering. Served partially aflame, over a mountain of shaved ice, inside half a pineapple and garnished to the nines, the Reef Dweller couldn’t have been a better contrast. This caramelized, amaretto-reminiscent colossus had me finishing it with a spoon after my straw proved unfit for the task.

These are all great cocktails despite the fact that they were arbitrarily cherry-themed. Quality ingredients and a simple recipe make for success while others fail. Still, I wanted to try a drink that captured that fragrance of the blossoms you get walking beside the tidal basin when the trees are in bloom. I know that the Japanese cherry trees don’t bear any fruit, and I could care less that the ingredients aren’t locally sourced, as Sidman’s article points out. So I made an infusion of Teaism’s Snow Geisha cherry blossom white tea and gin by washing one tablespoon of tea with a half-cup of Bombay Sapphire East to make Sakura Sakura.
• 1 tsp. Luxardo
• 1 1/2 oz. cherry blossom infused gin
• 1/2 tsp. simple syrup
• 1/2 tsp. grenadine
• 1/2 oz. Cherry Heering
• sparkling water
• cherry blossom garnish
Build the drink in a highball glass coated in Luxardo. Add ice, infused gin and simple syrup. Top with sparkling water and stir. Float grenadine and Heering and garnish with blossoms you didn’t pick from any national park.